Looking for the meaning or definition of the word missa? Here's what it means.
Noun
(music) a mass, in the sense of a composition setting several sung parts of the liturgical service (most often chosen from the ordinary parts Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Agnus Dei and/or Sanctus) to music, notably when the text in Latin is used (as long universally prescribed by Rome)
Examples
The concert includes Mozart's Requiem, Missa Brevis, operatic arias and music for the Christmas season.
The term missa has come to imply a 'mission', because at the end of the Mass the congregation are sent out to serve Christ.
As with the old Missa Brevis, so too nowadays it's not strictly necessary to set the Credo to fresh music.
The Missa Sancti Dominici belongs, through its mooring with trumpets and drums, in the category of the missa solemnis.
Each day is a festival unto them, who diligently heed the claustral proverb, De missa ad mensam.
As shown above, Bach combined the Kyrie and Gloria into the Missa, according to the common practice of that time.
